Writing good articles is not enough to land your website on the first page of search results. You should also be able to write SEO-friendly articles. This way, your website will be easier to get top rankings on search engines and attract a lot of visitors. But how do you do it? You need to know about SEO friendly article writing that follows Google’s latest algorithm rules. So, how to write SEO-friendly articles? Here are some tips for you.
1. Use the Right Keywords
The first step to make your articles SEO-friendly is by using the right articles, meaning words with large search volume, small competition, and in accordance with your blog’s niche. Keywords with a high search volume indicates that the keywords are looked for by many audiences. So, if you choose such a keyword, it will attract many readers. Keywords with small competition will make it easier for you to win a high ranking on Google and other search engines.
While keywords in accordance with your blog’s niche will help your content stay relevant. This way, your content will meet your visitors’ needs. For example, if you are running a beauty blog, it is surely suitable to use keywords related to beauty like beauty tips, skincare, and so on. In order to find the right keyword, you can research it first. There are many keyword research tools that you can use, such as Google Trends, KWFinder, Ubersuggest, and many others.
2. Understand Users’ Intent
Intent is the information that users want when they type certain keywords on search engines. Writing an SEO-friendly article needs to consider the intent because search intent is one of Google’s SEO assessment factors. It is because the right intent will answer users’ needs in the form of relevant content. When visitors get the information they want, they will surely spend their time on your website. This makes Google consider your article useful and needs to rank high.
Fortunately, figuring out users’ intent is quite easy. You just need to peek at your competitors’ articles on Google search results. For example, you want to write an article with the keyword ‘the best cat food’. And the search result shows you articles about the best cat food brand recommendations. So, if you want to write an article, write more about recommendations of cat food brands.
3. Take a Unique Point of View
The next tip for SEO friendly article writing is taking a unique point of view. You can use a keyword to write an article with a different point of view. This is effective to make your articles stand out. However, you still need to make sure that it matches users’ intent. For instance, you want to use the keyword ‘how to make pancakes’. If your competitors’ articles tell you about how to make restaurant-like pancakes, you can write an article about how to make homemade pancakes with 5 steps.
Besides unique, the convenience offered in your article will certainly be more attractive to readers. Moreover, a unique point of view also ensures that your article is original. So that search engines prefer your article to get a high ranking.
4. Pay Attention to Your Article Structure
Once you have determined the point of view, you can create better article structures. This makes the writing process easier by choosing what you should deliver in your article. Moreover, better article structures will make it easier for readers to understand your article. Generally, the structure of an article is divided into 3 parts. The first is the prologue. This is the initial part of the article that explains the background and purposes of the article.
The second is the content. It tells in detail about the main topic of the article. And the third is the epilogue. This is the closing part that consists of the conclusion or summary of the article. One tip you can try is to write a few short sentences outlining each section. Then, you can develop it into a complete explanation.
5. Break It Down into Short Paragraphs
Try to write each paragraph in your article shortly because short paragraphs are more convenient to read. 3 sentences for each paragraph are fairly enough to deliver an explanation well. According to research, online article readers tend not to read the article word for word. Instead, they scan it like an F-shaped pattern. They will completely read the initial part, then scan interesting words or sentences vertically. They keep reading like that until the end of the article.
6. Write Articles Focusing to One Topic
One mistake that most beginners make when writing an article is keyword stuffing or using too many keywords. They think that their article will land on the first page on search results by doing so. Instead, keyword stuffing is a spam practice that is far away from SEO friendly article writing standards. It is because Google considers keyword stuffing as spam. Keyword stuffing will lower your article quality and make readers inconvenient to read it.
Your website ranking will decrease or Google will even delete your article from search results if you do keyword stuffing. Therefore, you just need to reasonably spread the keyword on your article. Make sure your article is informative and comfortable to read.
7. Insert Internal and External Links
Internal links are the ones from one page to another on the same website. SEO-friendly articles need to use internal links because they can help Google to index your website and understand the context of the article you write. As a result, your SEO will also get better. As for visitors, internal links can direct them to deeper topics that they may want to read. This will make visitors spend longer on your website. It also shows your expertise in discussing the topic.
On the other hand, external links are the ones directed to other website pages. You can insert external links as a source to support your statement, convincing the readers. For example, links to statistics, research results, quotes, or references from other media.
Those are the tips for SEO friendly article writing you can try.